Google Is Going After One Of Facebook's Core Assets

Google
introduced a new sign-in button for Google+ today that developers
can add to their website or mobile app.

If you've activated your Google+ account, this means you'll be
able to log in to various sites and apps using the same
credentials you use to access Gmail,
YouTube,
and other Google services.

The Google+ sign-in button is very similar to Facebook
Connect, the button you've probably seen on several sites that
lets you to log in with your Facebook account. Most major sites
already use Facebook Connect, which became very apparent when a
glitch at Facebook
temporarily took them all down a few weeks ago.

Google also added more sharing options, so you can control what
content from apps and websites appear on your Google+ page. If
you've ever connected an app to Facebook, you know it can be
annoying when you share a bit of content on your News Feed that
you never really wanted there.

The Google+ sign-in button tries to fix that by letting you
select what groups you want to share with.

But what's most important is there's now the potential to log
into any site or app using your Google account information. Even
if you don't use Google+, it could be very useful to use the same
login you use for Gmail and other Google services to log in
anywhere else.

The Google+ sign-in button is also a big attack at Facebook's
core asset: becoming your core identity on all sites, not just
one social network. A lot of people already have Google accounts,
so there's plenty of incentive for developers to add the Google+
sign-in button to their app or website.